Indonesia moves to secure domestic pharmaceutical independence

Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia's Health Ministry is working to achieve domestic pharmaceutical independence through research and development, production, and market guarantees.

Lucia Rizka Andalucia, the ministry's Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, stated on January 13 that the goal is to produce drug raw materials independently within the country, thereby diminishing reliance on imported components.

She noted that the ministry has prepared programmes and policies to accelerate domestic production independence through three programme groups.

The first focus is research and development, including facilitating the transition to alternative sources for drug raw materials and strengthening research within the drug raw material industry.

Between 2022 and 2024, the ministry actively worked to bring about changes in source facilitation, successfully shifting from imported raw materials to domestically sourced alternatives for 42 pharmaceutical companies.

The second programme is production, wherein the government is committed to increasing the production and utilisation of domestic raw materials for drugs by providing incentives to business actors to realise the resilience of pharmaceutical preparations.

The third programme focuses on market guarantees to accelerate domestic drug independence. This strategy is implemented through regulations designed to stimulate the development of the raw material industry for medicines.

Andalucia emphasised that all these policies reflect the government's support intended to promote greater usage and market guarantees for domestically produced medicinal raw materials./.

VNA

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